Reduced Antibodies and Innate Cytokine Changes in SARS-CoV-2 BNT162b2 mRNA Vaccinated Transplant Patients With Hematological Malignancies.

Immunocompromised individuals including patients with hematological malignancies constitute a population at high risk of developing severe disease upon SARS-CoV-2 infection. Protection afforded by vaccination is frequently low and the biology leading to altered vaccine efficacy is not fully understood. A patient cohort who had received bone marrow transplantation or CAR-T cells was studied following a 2-dose BNT162b2 mRNA vaccination and compared to healthy vaccine recipients. Anti-Spike antibody and systemic innate responses were compared in the two vaccine cohorts. The patients had significantly lower SARS-CoV-2 Spike antibodies to the Wuhan strain, with proportional lower cross-recognition of Beta, Delta, and Omicron Spike-RBD proteins. Both cohorts neutralized the wildtype WA1 and Delta but not Omicron. Vaccination elicited an innate cytokine signature featuring IFN-γ, IL-15 and IP-10/CXCL10, but most patients showed a diminished systemic cytokine response. In patients who failed to develop antibodies, the innate systemic response was dominated by IL-8 and MIP-1α with significant attenuation in the IFN-γ, IL-15 and IP-10/CXCL10 signature response. Changes in IFN-γ and IP-10/CXCL10 at priming vaccination and IFN-γ, IL-15, IL-7 and IL-10 upon booster vaccination correlated with the Spike antibody magnitude and were predictive of successful antibody development. Overall, the patients showed heterogeneous adaptive and innate responses with lower humoral and reduced innate cytokine responses to vaccination compared to naïve vaccine recipients. The pattern of responses described offer novel prognostic approaches for potentiating the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination in transplant patients with hematological malignancies.

Mapping the melatonin receptor. 7. Subtype selective ligands based on beta-substituted N-acyl-5-methoxytryptamines and beta-substituted N-acyl-5-methoxy-1-methyltryptamines.

A series of beta-substituted and beta,beta-disubstituted N-acyl 5-methoxy-1-methyltryptamines and 5-methoxytryptamines have been prepared as melatonin analogues to investigate the nature of the binding site of the melatonin receptor. The affinity of analogues was determined in a radioligand binding assay using cloned human MT(1) and MT(2) receptor subtypes expressed in NIH 3T3 cells. Agonist and antagonist potency of all analogues was measured using the pigment aggregation response of a clonal line of Xenopus laevis melanophores. beta-Methylmelatonin (17a) and beta,beta-dimethylmelatonin (17b), though showing a slight decrease in binding at human receptors, show an increase in potency on Xenopus. N-Butanoyl 5-methoxy-1-methyl-beta,beta-trimethylenetryptamine (12c) is an antagonist at human MT(1) receptors but an agonist at MT(2), while N-butanoyl 5-methoxy-1-methyl-beta,beta-tetramethylenetryptamine (13c) is an antagonist at MT(1) but had no action at MT(2) and is one of the first examples of an MT(1) selective antagonist.

An expeditious synthesis of cytotoxic pyrroloisoquinoline derivatives. Structure-activity comparative studies with isomeric pyrroloquinolines.

A number of pyrroloisoquinolines have been prepared by reaction of 5-nitroisoquinoline with vinylmagnesium bromide followed by N-alkylation with the appropriate 2-chloro-N,N-dialkylethylamine. Their cytotoxicity was evaluated in a number of ovarian cell lines and compared to their analogous isomeric pyrroloquinolines. Two of the new compounds, 7c and 7d, are selective toward the A2780 cisplatin-resistant line.

Synthesis of N1-phenethyl substituted indole derivatives as new melatoninergic agonists and antagonists.

The potency of new indolic N1-phenethyl substituted melatoninergic ligands with and without methyl groups in the alpha and beta position of the alkanamidoethyl side chain was examined using the pigment aggregation response in a clonal line of Xenopus laevis melanophores. The non 5-OMe substituted compounds, 8a--e, are all weak antagonists while introduction of the 5-OMe group, 9a--e, increases both agonist and antagonist activity except for 9c (R=C3H7), which is only an agonist and 9e (R=c-C4H7), which is only an antagonist. Introduction of an alpha-methyl group into the 5-OMe derivatives, 14a-e, reduces the agonist potency while introduction of a beta-methyl group has only a small effect on either the agonist or antagonist potency. Double beta-methyl substitution of the 5-OMe derivatives, 20a--e, generally increases the agonist potential (20c, R=C3H7 is the most potent agonist of the compounds described) and decreases the antagonist potency, except for 20a (R=CH3), which is the most potent antagonist of this series of compounds.